US Vehicle camouflage 1973-1983

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 3:01 am

Between 1973 and 1985 (approximately), US vehicles in Germany used two camouflage schemes. The first, a scheme only applied in Germany, the USAREUR scheme, and then, beginning in 1977 for my unit, the MERDC scheme, which was applied Army-wide in different variations. The MERDC sand was not available to 3d BDE when we painted in the Fall of 1977. Also, when we drew M60A2s in 1-32 in Jul, '75, they were dark olive green, and remained so for quite some time. All other vehicles in the unit were USAREUR scheme until the great repainting project in '77. We spent about three months repainting. For interest, you can have some overlap in schemes. Tanks were painted first. The bridges (AVLBs) were done last.

Following are some links to reference for each. I'm sure they can be found on other threads in this forum, but here they are once again.

Good article from Fine Scale Modeler:Includes Fed paint numbers. Keep scrolling down.
cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling-subjects/f/3/t/65759.aspx.
.

MERDC: https://sites.google.com/site/merdccamo ... _templates

USAREUR:
www.panzerbaur.de/colours/a_relaunch/us ... -m60-a.htm

Any difficulties, let me know.

Guroburov · Post by **Guroburov** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 3:29 am

It may be just me but links aren't working.

-Steve

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 3:31 am

Try pasting in search bar. This is the way I copied them from my Kindle. Lmk.

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 4:23 am

Do they work if you copy to your search bar? That's what I do.

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 4:31 am

Well, they don't work on my laptop for me, either. I'll see what I can do and get back to you. .

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 4:34 am

For the first one, it took me to the home page, then all I had to do was select from the menu on the left.

Still working on the others.

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 5:22 am

Fireball, when I arrived in Germany, the USAREUR camo was extant. Didnt ever see OD by then. As we started repainting in Fall of '77 to MERDC, there was a SMALL window where you might have seen a mix of USAREUR and MERDC, but the OD was all overpainted by the USAREUR in the earlier transition. There MAY have been a new issue vehicle somewhere. When M113s replaced the M114s in scout platoons in '75, the M113s were OD until MERDC came along. If a mortar track or M577 were replaced with a new one, it might have been OD for a while. Didnt see any OD tanks, though. When M60A3s and the M1 (105mm) began to arrive, they were factory - issued in medium green and they stayed that way for a while. Once again, the other vehicles in the unit would have been in MERDC as opposed to the new issue tanks. The USAREUR pattern disappeared by the first half of '78. The medium green tanks came along in 1980, but I cant say exactly when because I went Stateside in'78. I did see a couple OD Sheridans in 11th ACR in the midst of a majority of USAREUR-painted ones. Once they were covered in dust, you didn't see much of that expensive camo paint and they were pretty easy to pick out of the wood line.

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 5:38 am

So, no OD tanks mixed in with MERDC (squigglies). No OD in the 80s either. OD prior to '74, USAREUR prior Fall, '77, MERDC up through early 80s, with M1s, M2s, and M60A3s in medium green or MERDC, and NATO after (just a guess) '85.

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 10:01 am

Here is more about MERDC...

https://gurth.home.xs4a.

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 10:32 am

A couple more suggestions...

To clarify the YEARS US pattern is also referred to as MASSTER, and was in use from about '74 to '77. MERDC replaced it. The NATO 3-color scheme came along about 1985. The desert scheme took over in prep For 1st Gulf, but that's just no fun.

For MASSTER/USAREUR - the pattern used from around 1974 to 1977, search for US Army MASSTER camouflage

For MERDC - search for US MERDC camouflage

Armorama and Fine Scale Modeler forums both have good discussions with illustrations and resources.

Apparently, a company called Orange Line makes a paint set specifically for the MASSTER and MERDC camo patterns. I HAVE NOT tried it yet. They appear to have a type for brush and for airbrush.

I am just trying to get the dark od green right for my A2s.

Begemot · Post by **Begemot** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:02 pm

Just to add to the variety of schemes used by the US Army in Europe: I was assigned to a mech infantry battalion in the 2nd Brigade, 8th Infantry Division and joined the unit in March 1976. All vehicles were OD. They were painted in the four color Winter Verdant MERDC scheme around May 1976. To the best of my recollection, all vehicles I saw from that time going forward were in that scheme, regardless of unit.

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Thu Aug 30, 2018 5:45 pm

Thanks, Fireball. Just to put what I have said in perspective though, Begemot points out his unit never made it into the USAREUR/MASSTER scheme, but remained in OD until it acquired its MERDC decoration in 1976, proving that not every unit received the USAREUR treatment. My memory is not as precise as I remember it used to be...

So you could see an OD unit and a USAREUR camo unit in the same kaserne with a third that just got its MERDC camo. And the first two units could be in transition.